Meet Rachel Sulzbach

It’s been three months since Rachel Sulzbach was hired as the Parks and Recreation Director for Forks Township and the number one on her list is bringing the department up to the 21^st century. 

One way of accomplishing this task is with a newly designed website.

“It will be easy to navigate through,” she added.

There are also plans to start using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter on a regular basis and purchasing a recreation management software program.

The software, Sulzbach said, will allow for easier sign-ups for visitors to the community center and reduce administrative paperwork associated with the department.

The current sign-up sheet that residents use to rent recreation items, use the gym or take classes would be eliminated and replaced with a key-card or entry card. That card would track recreation use via the software. The software would also help to track what programs are successful in town and which are not. This will enable the department to plan for future successful programs, Sulzbach said.

Another task that Sulzbach would like to tackle is naming the various recreation parcels in town.

“They’re there (the parks), but they’re just not named,” said Sulzbach.

With a growing township and residents who are new to the area, the need to name all the parks is necessary.  Sulzbach said she would like to create an all-inclusive map of the township parks with hiking and biking trails. The map would be mailed out to residents and made available in PDF form on the department’s website.

Also thanks to Sulzbach, new community center policies have been approved. The new rules were adopted in January. She is now working on rules and policies for the municipality’s outdoor facilities.

And even with a battle brewing between the township Board of Supervisors and the Recreation Department over revising the 1960 ordinance that created the board, Sulzbach has managed to come out unscathed, even gaining the support of most of the board members.

Sulzbach said her goal is to get everyone involved in the township parks and recreation to work together.

“They’re a team,” she said.

Sulzbach is a graduate of George Williams in Wisconsin where she earned her master’s degree in recreation administration. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania. 

Most recently she worked as for the Girl Scouts of America as the director of outdoor program where she managed 12 camp properties.